He's So Cute

So says Talia. And I have to agree.

Rabble and the H-factor

"The word rabble usually represents a disorderly crowd, but we recently learned that a group of butterflies is also called a rabble." (from the Houston Center of Contemporary Craft) Turns out that while we were in Houston, there was a "very special opportunity to contribute to a rabble—and not one, but two, public art projects." (HCCC)

To continue quoting from their site:

"As part of our 10th Anniversary celebrations, we are asking our members, friends and visitors to help us turn colored origami papers into three-dimensional butterflies that commemorate special events and activities this fall. Look for tables set up in the small gallery or lobby, where you can sit down and learn this simple origami fold. We expect that, over the course of the project, the installation of your butterflies will grow to cover a complete display wall at HCCC."

"The butterflies will have a second life during the Spring 2013 unveiling of I Never Saw Another Butterfly at The Holocaust Museum Houston. The Museum is collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies in a visual remembrance of the 1.5 million children who perished during the Holocaust. When the rabble settles down at HCCC, we will contribute the butterflies made by all of you to this honorable project. So, come on over, get folding, and join us for this fantastic community project."



Mia was loving it, and made 4-5 butterflies at the museum. She hasn't really stopped thinking about how we could make and use these butterflies. Tiago made one and then found some shiny origami paper to make a jet. Joaquin loved starring at them on the wall. Talia was streaming and yelling about everything. We stayed as long as we could with her antics or in this case her attempt at rabble rousing. I confess I was more than tempted to join in the craziness, but I got over it. Too bad the kids will not have the chance to see their butterflies at their final resting place. I just isn't really appropriate for their ages.

Blades vs Wheels

When I was a little girl (not so little that it was precious but definitely younger than now), I would pretend I was an olympic ice skater. Only draw back, roller skates just don't have the same physical capacities that ice skates do. I would make up various routines and even attempt tricks. Every so often, my family would visit our local rec center to ice skate and my ambition left me. For some reason sharp blades and hard ice were a bit more intimidating then the 8 pink wheels of my roller skates. So, when I found out that here in Houston there were rink times available for families during the day, I jumped at it. I was bummed out that I couldn't be on the ice with the kids but I couldn't bail on Joaquin and I was pretty sure it wasn't safe to bjorn it up on the ice. Thank heavens we had helmets and excited kids.









Fernando asked the kids what was easier and they all agreed that ice skating was far easier. I think they forgot the death grip on the wall of the rink, but I would take that above a 30 year old mom struggling (and sweating profusely) in order to hold you up while roller skating. I loved every minute of it.

We're Going To the Zoo

My favorite time to be at the zoo is in the morning. No one is ever there. The one exception happened this last week. To help bring home the science lesson for the day, we went to the kid part of the zoo where they have various interactive habitats so the kids could see why certain animals need different structures to help them survive. As fascinating as science is, it was no match for the play ground and goat petting part. I wasn't really into the play ground and was relieved when a friend called. While I chatted the kids asked if they could go into the goat petting area. Strollers aren't allowed in so I stayed out with Joaquin and "watched" my kiddos brush lethargic goats. After a few minutes, some lady came out and asked me if I was the mother to the kids in the petting zoo. I promptly got off the phone to discover the local news station wanted to interview me.

I confess, I was more than a little embarrassed to be on the phone, but agreed to do the interview. It turns out (surprise surprise) that Sponge Bob is bad for kids! I won't get into the monologue I had with the news guy, but I think that he was disappointed that he interviewed a mom who didn't find Sponge Bob charming and therefore wasn't shocked by the recent discovery. Poor news guy. I think he wanted a good ole' stand up for my bad habits even when someone tells me I am wrong speech and all he got was a sweaty mom of four standing on the soapbox for higher learning and giving something to your kids to watch that isn't spastic. In the end, they didn't even get a good interaction shot. They asked me to interact with the kids as they videoed. Weird. Didn't they remember I wasn't in there interacting in the first place. In fact, if he hadn't cut the interview, I was about to go into my theories on child obesity and the lack of non-hovering parenting in the wild.

Too bad the mens US open match was going on forever which made my interview nonexistent (or at least that is what I am telling myself).

Just a Walk in the Park

Houston has fantastic parks everywhere which is kind of funny since the weather isn't very pleasant for the whole summer and even into the fall. I am going to miss the one mile drive from our home to many outdoor activities.

Getting Creative with Face paints

After our daily grind of school work (usually a total of 4 hours broken up over the morning and early afternoon), we head out to the museum district for a little fun. Knowing that the Children's Museum is my personal favorite (oh and the kids like it too), I priced out memberships that offered reciprocity so as to get unlimited access for the least amount of money. Unfortunately, since we visited last year, the city put in metered parking where we usually parked for free. The cheapest parking is now $5 for 3 hours. That would be fine if I only wanted to come once or twice, but we have planned to visit it at least 4 times a week. At that rate, we will have paid more for parking than for our yearly family membership.

SOLUTION: I found "free" parking at the nearby city park (which is an understatement to its size and contents) with the only caveat being that we have only 3 hours to park between 7am-5pm. Since we don't get there until 2:30 usually, we are good to go. We just strap on our helmets and razor the 4 blocks over to the museum of choice!



Mia wanted to be a leopard with claws. I love how she drew little white marks on her knuckles to represent her ferocious feline claws.

Talia was so intense in her painting, I had to try not to giggle. I missed taking a picture of Tiago's face after he wanted me to draw Yoshi, Toad, and a square ? box on his face. It was kind of hideous, but the kids thought I was amazing. In fact, that night I walked in on them discussing my artistic prowess. Tiago burst out "Mom you are the most amazing artist in the world." Good thing we haven't visited the art museums yet. I'll let him keep on diggin' my mad skills with face paint.

Game Day

We kind of have a creepy love of BYU! I feel like it is slightly unhealthy, but who can help but love it (don't answer. . .really I know many who find BYU resistible). We love visiting it, encouraging it, and spending money to support it. This time of year, we even enjoy watching it:


Yesterday's victory over Ole' Miss was beautiful. The kids even enjoyed that we were watching the game which is a first. I think it helped that there was an egregious amount of junk food to be had.